The former Soviet Union collectivized many aspects of agricultural and industrial development in the 1950's. While some efforts were successful others like the cotton-growing around the Aral Sea have proven to be an ecological nightmare.

The encounter between the conquistador and opportunist Hernan Cortés and the indigenous peoples of Central America is one of history's tragic tales of greed conflict imperial weakness and superior weaponry.

In May 1893 a man is thrown out of a train on the platforms of the train station of Pietermaritzburg a little city of South Africa for daring to sit in a first-class compartment. This young Indian lawyer is named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

In July 1799 during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria the French soldiers of lieutenant Bouchard discover by chance at Rosetta a large black stone. It is in fact the fragment of a stele engraved in honor of King Ptolemy V including three writing systems: Greek Demotic and hieroglyphs.

At the end of a succession of civil wars which have weakened the Roman Republic Caesar proclaims himself dictator for life. However on March 14 44 BC he is assassinated by conspirators in the name of the Republic.

In 1415 the Portuguese launch an era of explorations that will lead to the European discovery of the world. The competition is intense between France and the United Kingdom for the possession of North America and the West Indies for the Indian colonies but also for Science.

Since the end of the 19th century Indochina has been a flourishing colony the gem of the French Empire. However the Second World War turns everything upside down. At the end of the war the Viet Minh movement announces its independence.

University of Glasgow Scotland 1763. A young engineer tries in vain to fix a steam engine before finally understanding what is wrong with it. James Watt still doesn’t know it but he will soon revolutionize the world of industry.

Our distant ancestors were afraid of lightning. For a long time it was thought that lightning was sent by the gods. Nowadays electricity is part of our daily life. Without it we would feel lost...

Early in their history humans realized that they could affect nature. Controlling fire making tools and taming wild animals. What they were not given by nature they harnessed in other species.

From the mysterious megaliths in prehistory to the first hot air balloons and the construction of the Giza pyramid complex our ancestors have always observed and experimented gaining a better understanding of their World.

Join us now on a journey through the key events that have allowed us to better understand the world of microbe.

Join us on a journey through the key moments that enabled humanity to discover plastics.

Long-distance communication, moving stealthily through the dark without being detected, and observation from afar have all become commonplace. At any moment, you can know exactly where you are on the planet.

Today our understanding of energy enables us to send rockets into space. Compared to our ancestors, we have incredible power at our disposal. But what exactly is energy? Where does it come from?

Today we can run climate simulations on a global scale. We have learned to control rivers and protect ourselves from flooding. How did we achieve these feats?

From the infinitely small to the infinitely large, we have harnessed our expertise to develop incredible technologies. But have we come full circle? Let's go on a journey through the key moments that have allowed humanity to discover: quantum physics!

Today, we know that many natural phenomena are based on the laws of physics. We can forecast the weather several days in advance. But are we really sure it is possible to predict everything?

Today, in our daily lives, we use countless machines to do our hard work for us. Each of them obeying a specific program, custom written in a particular language.

We know how to handle numbers so large that all the books in the world would not be enough to contain them. Our societies are profoundly reliant on an increasingly complex equation.

Today, we are just beginning to understand what happens beneath our feet, in the heart of our planet. Tomorrow, we may be better equipped to predict and prepare for volcanic eruptions or tsunamis.

What is the future of the human presence in space? How might things be different if there had not been a Cold War and a Space Race? What does humanity gain by venturing into our solar system...and beyond?

Rented by the BP oil company to drill an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes on April 20 2010 before sinking into the ocean and causing a gigantic oil spill. At issue: negligence in the maintenance and in the tests carried out.

In the 15th century an inventor in a workshop in Strasburg came up with a machine that would eventually change the history of the entire world and shake a religion to its core. The choice of the first work to be printed is an astute one: Saint Jerome’s Latin version of the Bible.

July 31 1784 Paris. Denis Diderot has just passed away and with him the memory of the biggest editorial epic of the Age of Enlightenment: Encyclopedia or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences Arts and Crafts.